“I’m very sorry, Sir Crow,” Commander Fiana said, bowing her head.
The day after I’d been ordered to hunt down a dragon by the prime minister, we stood before Sirius City’s gates.
“I’m powerless,” she lamented. “I can’t offer much support for the mission they gave you.”
She looked incredibly dejected, tears pricking at her eyes.
“Your order states you must undertake this alone, but it doesn’t specify what kind of equipment you can use,” she noted. “Considering this, I thought of lending you a number of cursed arms, but...” Fiana lowered her voice before continuing, frustrated. “Superbius must’ve anticipated this. The warehouse where we keep aethereal arms was empty. An employee said that the prime minister’s lackeys took them all, claiming any surplus weapons should be kept in the capital in case of emergency. Furthermore, they tightened control over weapons with designated owners, and made it so even borrowing one from another knight requires permission from the capital.”
Sudden as it all had been, protesting openly was difficult. Monsters had invaded the inner zone, after all, and concentrating resources at the nation’s core was only natural. Tighter control over aethereal arms under such circumstances made sense.
“Between that and the timing of this mission, there’s no denying that all this is to harass you, Sir Crow. If only House Alithlai had more influence, I could’ve protected you.”
Fiana had been apologizing like this for some time now. What a nice woman she was!
Unconcerned, I placed a hand on her shoulder, looking sharp as sharp could be. “Please don’t worry, Commander.”
“Sir Crow...”
No, really. I truly didn’t want her to worry!
She (and the rest of the country, apparently) thought I was a “myth conqueror” or whatever it was, capable of using cursed arms, but I wasn’t! My cursed weapons were under control only due to the strange powers of Muramasa, the Black Reaper—this shitty-ass, body-controlling sword!
“And it’s not like they’re completely under control either. They’re always going on about something or another, and this stupid ‘Arash’ gun wants to make me kill myself. Why don’t you do something about that, huh, Muramasa?!”
“CURRENTLY IMPOSSIBLE. CONTROL ABILITY AT LIMIT. AM GROWING BOY.”
“‘Growing boy’?! Wait, does that mean if you keep eating souls, you’ll be able to control even more dangerous weapons?”
Well, that was good news! Just feed him more souls, and— Wait, no, that was bad news! I didn’t want the sword getting even better at controlling things! Wouldn’t that make it better at controlling me?!
“You’ve gotta be kidding me!”
“TCH.”
“Did you just click your tongue at me?! You did! You clicked your tongue like you realized I’ve seen right through you!!!”
Damn this stupid bastard!
Anyway, considering all of that, I definitely didn’t want to end up with even more cursed arms, so I was glad they couldn’t easily give me any. Thanks, prime minister! What a bro (for this one thing only)!
Well, I couldn’t exactly tell Fiana that, so I just came up with something that fit the situation instead.
“Commander Fiana, cursed or not, aethereal arms are a precious resource. It’d be inappropriate indeed for me to hoard so many.”
“Still, for your protection, I wish I’d been able to provide you with at least one more.”
I’m telling you! Well, I’m not, but still! More weapons will kill me! Please, don’t pave my road to hell with your good intentions!
Overtaken by intense emotions, I found myself clutching the commander’s shoulders.
“S-Sir Crow?!”
“Again, please, don’t worry. I’d much prefer it if someone else could use them to protect others.”
Fiana stared at me, stunned.
Yeah! Give them to everyone else! If they sit in storage collecting dust because people are scared of being corrupted, they’ll just end up in my hands! And said hands are very full with problem children right now!
That had been the mindset behind what I’d said, anyway.
“Oh, Sir Crow! You’re so...!”
Wait, is she crying?!
Oh crap, was I gripping her shoulders too hard?! I mean, imagine some guy digging his fingers into your skin going, “I don’t want your shitty equipment!” Maybe she was so shocked and upset that she was like, “Wow, you’re so ungrateful! I’ve never met anyone so horrible!”
That’s probably it, huh? Here she is, with the best of intentions, trying to help me out, and I just went and refused her like that.
Man, I really was a hopeless idiot with my feet permanently lodged in my mouth, wasn’t I? I’d gone and said some inconsiderate shit and hurt Fiana’s feelings. Good job, me.
I’m just...gonna go, I thought. I was genuinely grateful for her other good deed, though, so I wanted to thank her first.
“Commander, I am truly grateful to you for lending me a carriage. With it, I can head straight to the mountainous region where the dragon is said to be,” I said, glancing back at the unicorn-powered vehicle behind me. “And thank you for sending your precious daughter to accompany me on this journey.”
A peach-haired girl poked her head out of the carriage’s curtains. Amazingly, the commander had appointed her daughter, Tiana, as my “caretaker” for the trip.
“Mama—I mean, Commander?” she said, her features filled with determination.
Hadn’t she been trembling and going on about how scary heading out on a dragon-hunting trip was, just moments ago? What was with the sudden resolute look?
“I heard what Crow said,” Tiana told her mother. “I’ll be of help to him, I swear.”
“Please do,” Fiana replied. “With things the way they are, we don’t know how long he has left to live.”
Mother and daughter exchanged a firm nod.
Wait, what was that about my words? What does she mean, she doesn’t know how long I have left to live?! Is it me, or do they think I’m horribly incompetent?!